As I mentioned in my MxMo post on the Fire Island Daiquiri I’ve been steeping a new batch of Hellfire Bitters for the past couple weeks. The recipe I used is the same that I used for my first batch, but I changed it up a bit. When I made these bitters the first time I used Thai chiles and the resulting bitters were warm, but not scalding hot. For the Fire Island Daiquiri I used about 4-5 dashes to achieve the level of heat I was after.

While this isn’t a bad thing per se, it does present one possible problem. When you start to use that amount of bitters in a drink you run the risk of having the bitters overpower the other flavor. Remember, bitters are like cocktail spices. They should be used in moderation. So, the obvious solution was to up the heat quotient of the chiles involved. For this new batch I went with all habaneros. To give you a frame of reference a jalapeno chile ranks about 2,500 – 8,000 on the Scoville scale. Thai chiles rank about 50,000 – 100,000. Habaneros come in at 100,000 – 300,000. Now we’re talking about serious, not screwing around, levels of heat. With this modification the recipe is:

1) Combine all ingredients in a glass jar
2) Steep for 10 days
3) Strain, filter, then bottle

The resulting bitters are hot. Seriously, seriously hot. For my first cocktail with them I mixed up a Fire Island Daiquiri and added a single dash of the bitters. The heat level was perfect. So now I have two chile bitters to work with. One that will add very subtle heat and can be used for those who don’t like spiciness as much and another batch that can be used to add true fire to a cocktail when needed.

Seeing as these bitters are so much hotter than their predecessor I felt a name change was required. As I mentioned these bitters are crazy hot, like surface of the sun hot. Or, more geekily, as hot as the Sun’s corona. Which, for those of you playing along at home runs between 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 degrees Kelvin.

If you haven’t tried making your own bitters yet it’s worth doing. It really is simpler than it seems on the surface and the results are surprisingly good.

Interesting post! i`m a habanero and scotch bonnet geek so i just have to make these bitters.I enjoy these chiles a lot in my cooking but haven`t used them to make bitters with. I made a ancho chili syrup this weekend that turned out very good, more earhty and spicy than hot but still it has a slight heat to it that is pleasant.

This looks great; I’m definitely going to try it (but w/ overproof rum rather than vodka). I used to buy 1.5L bottles of reposado tequila, pour out a cup or so, and pop in 10-12 halved jalapenos. Let it steep for a few weeks and it makes a killer margarita. Haven’t done it in quite a while, but perhaps these bitters would achieve the same effect without killing an entire bottle of tequila? Thanks for sharing–this is really a great idea.

However, if you’d prefer to use another bittering agent there are other options available. For example, I used gentian to make Robert Hess’ House Bitters (Bought this from a local herb shop). You could even use grapefruit or bitter orange peels if you so desired.

Another route entirely is to drop the bittering agent from the recipe. Your bitters will be less bitter (pun intended) but the heat and other flavors will still be present.

A few months ago I made the bitters using your recipe (without the Red Cinchona) and they turned out awesome! Great heat/flavors and everyone that tried them was a big fan.

I ordered the Red Cinchona online, but I have the Habaneros already and want to get started on a batch now. What do you think about using some orange peel and adding a bit of ‘old fashion aromatic bitters’ that contain Gentian and Angostura Bark? How much would I add if I was following your recipe?

I wouldn’t suggest going the route of adding another already complete bitters. In order to get a reasonable level of bitterness the flavors you’d add would overwhelm all the flavors you’re trying to create on your own. I’d say skip the bittering agent and simply call the result a tincture instead. :)